Hidden Leaf High
by The Dougen Veil
Summary: 19 yr old orphan, Yurei Tsukiko, has never been to high school. Sent to Konoha against her will she meets the young talent of Hidden Leaf High. As she learns the way of the ninja, Yurei discovers things she never knew existed, friendship and romance.
1. Chapter 1

Hidden Leaf High huh?"

The social worker shrieked as a fist suddenly crashed down onto her desk almost snapping it in two.

"P-Please Yurei this is for your own good. We only want to do what's best for…"

Standing up angrily the girl spun around and stomped to the door, flinging it open with barely concealed rage.

"Don't give me that crap! You just want to ship me off to the fire country so you and the village won't have to look at me every other day!"

The girl stopped for a moment as her head dropped, speaking in no more than a whisper

"…It's always the same"

SLAM!

"(Sigh) I knew she'd take it badly…at least this time she managed to not _totally _obliterate my desk…TT"

--

Stepping out into the rain, the teenager began a slow walk towards her small apartment wrapped her long coat around her.

Yurei Tsukiko wasn't like the other people in her village. She had known it since she was very young. She was reminded time and time again just how out of place she was. She behaved differently, she spoke differently, and the most obvious, she looked different.

For a start she was by no doubt the tallest girl in town. At 5'10 she was powerfully built for a woman: strong shoulders, long toned legs and arms, a long slender neck, and curves that caught an uncomfortable amount of male attention.

Her hair seemed to be the centre of many comments by her classmates and village folk, it stretched far down her body, flowing wherever the wind swept it, a blanket of midnight pouring out behind her, yet there were always odd comments about the cluster of pure white hair that framed her sculptured face. No matter how many times she had said it, they never believed it was actually naturally that way. This grated on her often as it was just another reason for them to whisper behind her back. However little do they know that the very girl they tried to secretly insult could hear every one of their hushed words.

That was another thing that caused friction between her and the others, since birth Yurei had lived with enhanced senses, superior to any other around her. She had hearing more profound than that of any bat, smell 1000 times better than that of a dog (which could sometimes be a pain on her part), sight that could see the tiniest detail in anything and with one touch can tell if a person is lying simply by a tiny beat of their heart. What Yurei failed to tell anyone is that, apart from her superior senses, she also had other abilities that others would only believe existed in fairytales.

Because of that air of mystery around her, no one would dare look her in the eyes, even if they needed to talk to her. She guessed that having glowing green eyes was something to do with it too.

Reaching her destination she rummaged clumsily through her bag looking for the key to her door.

'**To think, this is the last time I'll be doing this (sigh)'**

After climbing the stairs, careful not to alert her overly curious landlady, Yurei was relieved to finally be home and to take a long relaxing bath.

--

After a good long soak, she dried off, slipped into her night clothes and fell onto her bed with a long sigh. Turning her head she looked sadly at her best friend.

"Well Isamu, at least we'll finally be leaving this god forsaken place for good"

Looking up to the ceiling Yurei let out another long sigh

"Let's just hope those people can see me as a person…"

With that she curled up under the covers, making sure not to kick the large dog snoozing carelessly at the end of the bed, and fell into a long dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright Yurei! Here we are, your new home!"

Pulling herself out of the small car, Yurei gave an almighty yawn while stretching her aching muscles in the morning breeze.

'**At least it's a nice day today' **

She thought blankly.

After heaving all of her bags out of the back seat and eventually managing to shoehorn the poor Isamu out of the car, Yurei was handed a sheet of paper, an envelope and left to start her new life. Alone.

'**Hmph! Not even a goodbye or good luck then? Typical!'**

"Well boy, it's now or never right?... Wish me luck dad"

And with a deep breath, Yurei Tsukiko passed the huge gates before her in search of her new life and the head honcho of Konoha, the Hokage.

--

'**Jeez! I knew it was gonna be big but this is ridiculous'**

After wandering around the village for at least three hours, Yurei dejectedly admitted to herself that she was lack of a better word, lost. Even she with her amazing directional prowess was totally overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the Hidden Leaf village. She was relieved that the two men at the gate were nice enough to welcome her without as much as a sneer (Although she could feel their lingering stares bore into her back as she walked away).

Already she was beginning to like this place, apart from the fact she was hopelessly lost in a strange place, with little time to loiter seeing as she had a meeting with the Hokage and heard that she did not appreciate lateness.

After plucking up the courage to speak she approached two old women praying they wouldn't flee with fright on seeing her and asked politely

"Um…excuse me…erm…would you…I mean…if it's not too much trouble…could you tell me which way it is to the Hokage's office?"

after silently scolding herself for having such an annoyingly polite nature towards her elderly, Yurei braced herself for the ice cold glares she was so used to when asking for a simple favour like directions. She almost shrieked when the women stopped their chatter and smiled warmly at her

"Aah you must be a young traveller my dear, am I correct?"

"Actually I'll be living here as from today, but I can't for the life of me find the Hokage office so I can get all my living and school arrangements in order, and I heard that she doesn't favour lateness at all, and I'm already running late"

"Oh now now dear, don't you worry yourself. We'll take you there ourselves"

"Oh no! I can't ask you to do that! I should be fine with some directions!"

"Oh you're a polite young lady to say that, but don't worry we need to go that way anyway"

Even though she had only asked for directions, Yurei was bewildered by the kindness of the old woman, even though they had just met, inside she was praying that the people of this village were all like her and would talk to her with the same soft tone this little old lady was using now.

"My goodness how rude of me, my name is Mei and my friend here is Nana"

"My! What a pretty young girl. And tall too, oh how I wish I'd been lovely and tall as a young woman. Hmhm"

Yurei couldn't help but smile at the two woman's warm laughter, laughter that wasn't directed at her, and made her laugh quietly to herself as they made their way towards the Hokage office.

--

"Here we are deary"

"Thank you very much, I'm very grateful"

"It was no trouble my dear, now you go and get settled into your new home"

"We hope to see you again soon"

After Yurei thanked the two women again, she watched as they headed off leaving her again on her own. Looking up at the large building Yurei was surprised at how calm she was feeling. Being in a new place usually made her very uncomfortable, yet, for some reason she felt at ease. After a moment or two staring into space she remembered why she was here and began to make her way towards the door.

"You must be Miss Yurei Tsukiko yes?"

Startled out of her daze Yurei looked up to find a dark haired woman standing at the foot of some stairs

"Err yeh that's me. Sorry if I kept you waiting, I got kinda lost"

"I'm Shizune, the Fifth's first apprentice, please follow me, she's waiting for you in her study"

Taking a deep breath Yurei followed the woman to a set of large red doors. After being ushered through, her bags were taken and placed on a chair in the corner of the room.

Bowing to the small woman ahead of her Yurei began by introducing herself hoping that she sounded respectful as not to insult the Hokage.

"My name is Yurei Tsukiko. Thank you for making time to see me"

The woman looked closely at Yurei examining her carefully from head to toe.

"Hm yes, Welcome to the Hidden Leaf village. I am Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage. I understand you have been sent here by request of your village's elders, am I correct?"

Realising how bad that must sound to the woman she replied quietly

"Yes ma'am"

"You are to attend Hidden Leaf High and are to be given a small home and the necessities, yes?"

"Yes ma'am"

Looking at the woman Yurei suddenly had a feeling of dread as she remembered what had been written in her report. All the details of how she came to be in that village, what had happened to her parents and how she had managed to survive all alone. She almost laughed as she imagined what had been written. The town elders had never liked her and for them to have written a report on her herself, she could only imagine what terrible things they must have come up with.

"It seems you've had a rough time in life so far, and it seems that you've been deprived of necessities left behind by your father. Hmm… What a rotten bunch of goats these people are!"

Yurei was shocked to here this. No one had ever defended her before so this was quite a surprise yet as she looked at the woman in confusion she found that Tsunade was looking at her with, what looked like…pride. As a child Yurei was told that her father had managed to store some money away in case anything were to happen to him, but for some reason the money was taken away and given to others instead of her. She never complained but it always left her feeling cheated somehow. As though they didn't want her to have anything, that she had to work herself to the bone just so she could have somewhere to sleep. Even when she got sick they never lifted a finger to help her, she was left to suffer. The more she thought about it the more it ate away at her. She could feel her mood begin to dip and her anger to rise, she didn't want to show that side of her after just meeting these people but the memories were to hard to ignore.

A hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality.

"Don't worry Yurei. You'll be taken care of here. Unlike those pitiful snobs we value each and every soul that comes into this village. Do you understand?"

The warmth in the woman's words instantly calmed Yurei down. Again for some reason she found herself smiling with the small woman. She had said that she was part of the village even though they had just met she had accepted her instantly despite her background and the way she looked.

'**Who knows? Maybe I do belong here' **

"Well then…"

The woman broke into her day dream

"Now that we have that out of the way I would like to officially welcome you to the Hidden Leaf. I hope you are able to make a good life here and please if you need anything at all, just come straight to me ok"

Yurei couldn't have felt happier. She had a home again and this time it was going to be permanent.

"Thank you Lady Hokage. I'll do my best and be the best citizen I can be"

"That's my girl"


	3. Chapter 3

Behind Yurei there was a loud knock on the door and the sound of someone punching and scolding them for interrupting a meeting. The door flew open and a young blonde boy bounced into the room with a pink haired girl following behind him shaking her fist angrily.

"Hey Granny Tsunade I need to ask you about…"

As Yurei turned in order for the Hokage to see the youngster, she was met by two blushing 15 year olds gaping silently at her. She wasn't used to being stared at especially by kids about 3 years her junior. She shifted slightly hoping they would snap out of their daze when the woman behind her boomed

"How many times do I have to say it you little brat! Stop barging into my office uninvited! Get some control over your friend Sakura!"

After shaking herself out of her stupor the pink haired girl walked up to the desk placing some paper work down in front of her.

"Trust me Shishou I've tried"

After a moment of silence the youngster finally realised her friend was still staring at the young woman standing in front of the Hokage. Yurei was startled to see that when she made eye contact with the boy, his face began to turn pink.

'**What the heck? Why is that kid blushing?**'

Before she could think of the reason, the pink haired girl she now knew as Sakura stomped up to the boy giving him a sharp jab to the top of his head

"Damit Naruto! It's rude to stare you twerp!"

"Gah! Maaan Sakura, what was that for?!"

Naruto sat there rubbing his tender head while Sakura continued to yell at him.

"You know dam well what it was for idiot!"

Something about those two made Yurei smile very slightly. They were like brother and sister the way they shouted at each other and for a moment she almost wished she could join in the fun. Just as she was about to try and introduce herself the Hokage spoke up against the noise.

"Alright you two cut it out! I called you here for a reason now shut it and listen up! This here is Yurei Tsukiko. She's just moved here and needs some one to show her around. I want you to help her move into her new home and I don't want to hear any complaining got it?!"

After they both took in what the Hokage had just told them they were in front of Yurei in an instant

"Wow hey nice to meet you. It's not often we see a new face here unless it's for business! I'm Sakura Haruno, and the knucklehead is Naruto Uzumaki"

"Hey that's not fair Sakura! But yeh I'm Naruto! Great to meet you! So where are you staying? If you want I can show you all the best places to get ramen, and I mean the good stuff oh hey does this mean your gonna join the advanced academy? Does is Granny Tsunade?"

Naruto turned to the Hokage with bright eyes. His energy levels were through the roof with this new comer and he seemed to take to her rather quickly. Yurei couldn't' keep up with the two of them, never in her life had someone talked to her this much in one go. She almost fell over with the shock of it all.

"(Sigh) Yes Naruto, she's going to the academy. Although she's a few years older I've had to put her in some of your classes in order for her to catch up on the curriculum. It seems she wasn't able to attend high school in her old town."

With that Yurei could only feel shame. She couldn't afford to pay her school fees and so missed out on a high school education. Thinking about it she began to feel uncomfortable at the thought of her being nearly 4 years older than the rest of the students. Her head slumped defeated.

"So what lessons are we sharing Shishou?"

The pink haired girl seemed to have calmed down but the boy was still filling the air with overwhelming excitement. Yurei sniggered to herself.

"Sakura she'll be in your home economics class, she'll be joining you both in Japanese history, English language, science, oh and she'll be in your gym class too. Hmm it seems you excelled in physical activities, oh especially self defence, am I correct Yurei?"

"Yeh I guess so"

Yurei wasn't at all self-centred but she knew what she was good and physical education was one of them.

"Well well. Looks like we may have a new fighter on our hands"

--

Yurei had sensed the man coming, miles off but had decided against letting them know. It was too soon to let her weirdness get the better of her, yet even so she was still startled by the deepness of his voice. She came to find that she actually liked that voice.

"Late as usual Kakashi! What am I going to do with you?"

"Aha sorry about that I…"

"Don't even try to give me an excuse!"

When the man walked up beside her Yurei could see him scratch his head and laugh slightly. He obviously didn't care he was late she knew that much by simply standing next to him.

"This is the girl I told you about. I'm giving you responsibility for her education. I expect you'll make sure she settles in nicely?"

The man turned and looked at her. Yurei was instantly captivated by him. He was an inch or to taller than her which made her feel better straight away. His hair was a messy silver mass, he wore a mask on the lower half of his face and he wore an eye patch over his left eye. He seemed to be long and lean as he stood up straight to introduce himself.

"Sorry about the wait. I'm Kakashi Hatake. Ill be your mentor from now on."

"I'm Yurei Tsukiko, pleasure to meet you"

"Ooh well now. At least this one's polite, unlike two certain kids I teach. No names mentioned"

Kakashi looked blankly at the two teens as they both looked away embarrassed.

Yurei couldn't help but smile to herself.

"So Yurei, the Hokage's told me that you're said to be quite the fighter. Am I correct?"

Yurei's mood instantly nosedived. She knew exactly what the man was insinuating and she didn't like it one bit.

"Erm well you know…just the basics…block, trip, run that kinda stuff"

Trying her hardest to put on a humorous tone she knew straight away that he and the Hokage saw right through her lie.

Yurei was very wary when it came to sparring, especially when it was against older men. The last time she had sparred with her old teacher, he had constantly gone out of his way to touch her in unnecessary places every time he threw a punch. After a certain, extremely unpleasant grab, she had had enough.

He had been hospitalized for 3 weeks after being smashed through 2 solid walls. Let's just say no one dared spar with her again.

"Yurei, just to let you know, before you enter the academy, we have to be sure you're trained in combat. I know it may seem uncomfortable since you've just met, but Kakashi here is our strongest jounin and is responsible for training new recruits and testing their skills. You must understand we have to do this in order to ensure your safety and the safety of our other ninja. Do you understand?"

All Yurei could do was nod her head. This was going to be a disaster.

With a sudden jolt of realisation she recalled what she had just heard.

'**Wait…huh? Ninjas!…what the hell?...'**

--

After receiving her paperwork and contracts she was ushered out onto the street in the direction of her new home.

"Hey this is so cool. I never realised helping someone move would be so exciting"

Naruto's mood was still sky high and poor Yurei was tired just from watching him. Again she realised that when he caught her eye his face flushed a deep red making him turn away with a shy giggle. Yurei didn't know what was wrong, but it was creeping her out a little bit.


End file.
